The Lahu people ( Lāhùzú; Lahu: ''Ladhulsi'' / ''Kawzhawd''; vi, La Hủ) are an

ethnic group An ethnic group or an ethnicity is a grouping of people who identify with each other on the basis of shared attributes that distinguish them from other groups. Those attributes can include common sets of traditions, ancestry, language, history, ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...

and Mainland Southeast Asia.

Etymology

The Chinese name "Lahu" literally means "to drag favour from heaven" (拉, lā, "to drag"; 祜, hù, "blessing, favour"). It replaced the older and more-offensive "Luohei" (猓黑) as the official Chinese name for the Lahu people.

Distribution

The Lahu are one of the 56 ethnic groups officially recognized by the People's Republic of China, where about 720,000 live in

Yunnan Yunnan , () is a landlocked province in the southwest of the People's Republic of China. The province spans approximately and has a population of 48.3 million (as of 2018). The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders the ...

province, mostly in

Lancang Lahu Autonomous County Lancang Lahu Autonomous County (; Lahu: ) is an autonomous county under the jurisdiction of Pu'er City, in southwestern Yunnan province, China. Lancang is the same as Lan Xang, and refers to the Mekong River (known in Chinese as the Lancang) on ...

. In

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is b ...

, the Lahu are one of the six main groups categorized as

hill tribe Hill people, also referred to as mountain people, is a general term for people who live in the hills and mountains. This includes all rugged land above and all land (including plateaus) above elevation. The climate is generally harsh, with ...

s. The Tai often refer to them by the

exonym An endonym (from Greek: , 'inner' + , 'name'; also known as autonym) is a common, ''native'' name for a geographical place, group of people, individual person, language or dialect, meaning that it is used inside that particular place, group ...

''Musoe'' (also spelled ''Muser''; th, มูเซอ), meaning 'hunter'. They are one of 54 ethnic groups in

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making ...

, and mostly live in three communes of Mường Tè,

Lai Châu Province Lai or LAI may refer to: Abbreviations * Austrian Latin America Institute (Österreichisches Lateinamerika-Institut) * '' Latin American Idol'', TV series * La Trobe Institute, Melbourne, Australia * Leaf area index, leaf area of a crop or ...

. A few Lahu, along with the Hmong, Lao, and Mien were recruited by the United States

Central Intelligence Agency The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...

to help fight against the communist Pathet Lao, known as the secret war, during the

Laotian Civil War The Laotian Civil War (1959–1975) was a civil war in Laos which was waged between the Communist Pathet Lao and the Royal Lao Government from 23 May 1959 to 2 December 1975. It is associated with the Cambodian Civil War and the Vietnam War ...

. In fear of retribution when the Pathet Lao took over the Laotian government in 1975, those who had helped the United States fled to neighboring Thailand seeking political asylum. A couple thousand Lahu have resettled in the United States as refugees, in the states of

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over t ...

North Carolina North Carolina () is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 28th largest and List of states and territories of the United ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

, and

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to its ...

Subgroups

The Lahu divide themselves into a number of subgroups, such as the Lahu Na (Black Lahu), Lahu Nyi (Red Lahu), Lahu Hpu (White Lahu), Lahu Shi (Yellow Lahu) and the Lahu Shehleh. Where a subgroup name refers to a color, it refers to the traditional color of their dress. These groups do not function as

tribe The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide usage of the term in English is in the discipline of anthropology. This definition is contested, in part due to confl ...

s or

clan A clan is a group of people united by actual or perceived kinship and descent. Even if lineage details are unknown, clans may claim descent from founding member or apical ancestor. Clans, in indigenous societies, tend to be endogamous, mea ...

s - there are no kin groups above that of the family. Lahu trace descent bilaterally, and typically practice matrilocal residence. Bradley (1979) lists the following Lahu ethnic subgroups. ;Black Lahu *Lahu Na **Meuneu (Shan, 'north country') **Meun Pulon **Shehvi (Hsenwi) **Bawfa (Shanised) **Hkahka: (known only to Bradley's Akha informants) **Panai (known only to Bradley's Akha informants) *Divergent Lahu Na dialects **Kaishin: (Chinese 'exchange hearts') **Hpu: ('white') ***Hu:paw ***Kulao ***Namhpehn (hpeh) ***Lalaw (na) **Laba **Huli *Lahu Nyi ('red') **Nyi **Venya ('go to town') **Kulao: (not the same as Hpu: type Lahu Kulao) *Shehleh (Red Lahu name) **Laho Na ('black') / Shehleh **Laho Namoe **Laho A:leh ;Yellow Lahu *'Like Black Lahu' **A:ga / A:do'aga (Black Lahu name) **A:hpube:le: (Yellow Lahu 'bent gourd'; own name) **Shi: Bankeo: *Laho Shi **Banlan (black name) **Menhke (yellow name) ;Divergent *Lahu Meh *Lahu Lawmeh *Lahu Velon ('big town') ;Unclassified *Kawsung *Pawla *Khapaw *Cili *Senling *Nambawpe *Si Pyeng ('yellow-Pyeng') *Si Pü ('yellow - white') *Hai (Chinese 'black' ?) ;Non-Lahu (some have "become" Lahu) *Micha (Lisoid group) *Bana (Akoid group)

Language

The Lahu language is part of the Loloish branch of the

Lolo–Burmese The Lolo-Burmese languages (also Burmic languages) of Burma and Southern China form a coherent branch of the Sino-Tibetan family. Names Until ca. 1950, the endonym ''Lolo'' was written with derogatory characters in Chinese, and for this rea ...

subgroup of the Tibeto-Burman family (itself a member of the

Sino-Tibetan language family Sino-Tibetan, also cited as Trans-Himalayan in a few sources, is a family of more than 400 languages, second only to Indo-European in number of native speakers. The vast majority of these are the 1.3 billion native speakers of Chinese languages. ...

). Like most of its relatives, it is a strongly isolating language with subject–object–verb word order, and a set of numeral classifiers. There are seven tones, and consonants cannot close syllables. The language spoken by the Lahu Shi is notably divergent from that spoken by the other groups. In Thailand, Lahu Na often serves as a

lingua franca A lingua franca (; ; for plurals see ), also known as a bridge language, common language, trade language, auxiliary language, vehicular language, or link language, is a language systematically used to make communication possible between groups ...

among the various hill tribes. Written Lahu uses the

Latin alphabet The Latin alphabet or Roman alphabet is the collection of letters originally used by the ancient Romans to write the Latin language. Largely unaltered with the exception of extensions (such as diacritics), it used to write English and the ...

. Among Christian villages, the language has been enriched by loanwords from English, Latin and Greek via Bible translation, plus

neologism A neologism Ancient_Greek.html"_;"title="_from_Ancient_Greek">Greek_νέο-_''néo''(="new")_and_λόγος_/''lógos''_meaning_"speech,_utterance"is_a_relatively_recent_or_isolated_term,_word,_or_phrase_that_may_be_in_the_process_of_entering_com ...

s in the areas of hygiene, music and education.

Religion

The traditional Lahu religion is polytheistic. Buddhism was introduced in the late 17th century and became widespread. Many Lahu people in China are Buddhists. Christianity became established in Burma in the 19th century and has been spreading since. The Lahu of Northeastern Thailand had encounters with Theravada Buddhist forest monks (tudong monks) around the years 1930–1940. The leader of such a group of monks,

Mun Bhuridatta (หลวงปู่มั่น)Ajahn Mun ( th, อาจารย์มั่น) , dharma_names = Bhuridatto , birth_date = , birth_place = Ban Khambong, Khong Chiam, Ubon Ratchathani, Thailand , death_date = , death_place = Wat Pa Sutth ...

, spent some time in Lahu territory. These Lahu asked him for a " gatha that would protect them from ghosts and demons."

Names

Lahu people used to have just a given name, until the Chinese Government gave them surnames. About 90% of the Lahu people are either named Lee or Zhang, two of the most common Chinese surnames. Lahu given names are made of two syllables: one that shows the gender and one that gives information on the day of birth, based on the

zodiac The zodiac is a belt-shaped region of the sky that extends approximately 8° north or south (as measured in celestial latitude) of the ecliptic, the apparent path of the Sun across the celestial sphere over the course of the year. The pa ...

. For example, a person born on the Ox day will be named “Zanu” if he is a boy and “Nanu” if she is a girl.

Notes

References

Citations

Sources

* * * * Phạm Huy. 1997. ''Một phần chân dung: dân tộc La Hủ (nhật ký điền dã)''. Lai Châu: Sở Văn Hóa Thông Tin Lai Châu.

External links

Video documentary about Lahu Opium PeopleThe Virtual Hilltribe MuseumLahu Audio Resources FEBC
*http://blog-en.namepedia.org/2015/03/lahu-names-china/ {{DEFAULTSORT:Lahu People Ethnic groups officially recognized by China Ethnic groups in Myanmar Ethnic groups in Thailand Ethnic groups in Vietnam